At the Supreme Court of Canada, Google Inc. will be searching for a more favourable ruling than it got at the Court of Appeal for British Columbia in Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Google Inc. The appeal stems from the BC Supreme Court’s granting of an injunction requiring Google to de-index certain websites from its […]
The Trans Pacific Partnership: Copyright Law, the Creative Industries and Internet Freedom In a timely manner, only three days after the announcement of the conclusion of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), Prof. Matthew Rimmer accepted our invitation and shared few of the hidden secrets behind the agreement as part of IP Osgoode speaks […]
This article is cross-posted with permission from Bereskin & Parr. The United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has released an updated set of Eligibility Examination Guidelines to provide guidance to examiners on when to reject claimed inventions as ineligible abstract ideas. These guidelines give a sense of what computer-implemented subject matter the USPTO considers […]
This article is cross-posted with permission from Bereskin & Parr. It is very important to provide adequate disclosure when using “means-plus-function” claims in a U.S. patent, particularly in the field of software. “Means-plus-function” claims include elements that are defined in a functional (as opposed to structural) manner, such as “means for tying a shoe”, and […]
“A, B, C,…as easy as 1, 2, 3?” That remains to be seen. BMW may be driving Google down a bumpy road named Trademark-Infringement Lane, after Google surprised everyone on August 10th with the creation of a new company, Alphabet. I say this because the trademark “Alphabet” and the domain name alphabet.com are currently owned by German automobile-manufacturer BMW. Following the announcement, BMW reportedly […]
The editorial staff of the Intellectual Property Journal welcome submissions to be considered for inclusion in one of the three editions of the journal to be published in 2015.
This is an excerpt from a paper by Adam Falconi, the recipient of the 2015 Barry D. Tomo Memorial Prize for best research paper on a subject related to industrial or intellectual property law. The full paper will appear in the upcoming edition of the Intellectual Property Journal (IPJ). In September of 2014 the consolidated […]
United States Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is a fan of comics. If you had not already read that in her bio at SCOTUS-tracking blog Supreme Court Review, you might have inferred it from the Spiderman references she included in her Kimble v. Marvel ("Kimble") decision. She even supported her final decision, declining to overturn the limits […]
With the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games (the “Games”) upon us, IP enthusiasts are eagerly debating the issues surrounding the Games with respect to – well, IP law. One of the many debates permeating conversations is whether athletes can protect sports moves as intellectual property. For example, can a swimmer copyright a secret way of pulling their arms through water? […]
In the September 2012 battle for broadcast rights to the 2015 Pan American Games, CBC/Radio Canada emerged victorious from what was reportedly described as a "very aggressive bidding process with multiple bidders." In light of the difficult landscape shift CBC has experienced over the past two years, there was serious concern as to how the public broadcaster […]